Summer Rain
by My Sharpie Is Green
Summary: If he had to describe her in two words, “summer rain” would do the trick. She’s revitalizing and invigorating, fresh and clean and good. [CEDRIC.CHO][ONESHOT][GOF]


I know Cho gets a bad rap because of the whole Harry/Cho fiasco, but she's not a bad character. She just happened to be very confused and not sure of what she wanted in OotP (a feeling I'm coming to understand more and more every day). I think she and Cedric probably had a sweet relationship, and besides – it's great (canon) tragic material.

**Summer Rain**

If he had to describe her in two words, "summer rain" would do the trick. She's revitalizing and invigorating, fresh and clean and good. He's mesmerized by the way that her thick hair shines in the sun and likes to watch the way that her feet shuffle when she walks. Her laughter sounds like bells and her smile shines like the sun.

When he gets close enough, Cho Chang smells like wildflowers.

-

The first time he asked Cho on a date, they were alone in the owlery. She'd blushed and shuffled her feet and said that she didn't know him well enough. The second time she was with her friends and could only frown sympathetically before a cackling Marietta Edgecomb dragged her away. The third time, he didn't bother with words. Instead he leaned in swiftly and kissed her softly before walking away, leaving a speechless Cho behind him.

The fourth time, Cho asked him.

-

Cho used baby oil on her skin. He loved to caress her arms mindlessly when they lay together, her hair strewn across cushions as he held her hand. Sometimes she would lean forward and place her head on his chest and listen to the steady beating of his heart and the inhalation of his lungs. Her hair would fan out behind her, mingling with the dark gray wool of his sweater until they were the same person. She liked to close her eyes as he wrapped strong arms around her slender frame and escape in the safety of his smile.

-

The Triwizard Tournament was meant to be a joke. She'd gone with him to watch as he put his name into the Goblet, her eyes twinkling. He'd pulled out a quill and parchment, pretending to scribble things down as he walked.

"David Quayle from the _Daily Prophet_. Tell me, Miss Chang, how does it feel to be dating Triwizard Champion Cedric Diggory?"

She giggled and smiled at him. "Pretty good."

The night his name was chosen, she waited for him by the staircase.

"Congratulations," she said. "How's it feel?"

"Pretty good," he said, and she laughed with him.

-

Cho had two great fears. She was terrified of losing the people closest to her and deathly afraid of dragons, which made the First Task a living nightmare for her. Of all the girls who screamed in shock when Cedric got burned, Cho screamed the loudest, and of all the legions of people who cheered when he captured the golden egg, he swore that he could hear Cho's voice above the rest.

-

"Who knew the lake was quite so cold?"

Cedric gaped at her, a frozen eyebrow cocked. "Please tell me that by 'cold' you mean 'bloody freezing'."

"Sure." She smiled as he scooted towards her, draping his sopping wet arm across her soaked shoulders. "Remind me again why I had to be half-drowned? Please don't tell me you signed me up for that."

"Not quite."

"Now what do you mean by that?"

He paused, brushing her drenched hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear. "You're the thing I'd miss the most."

-

The day of the third task, she'd dragged him away from his parents in the Great Hall and taking him instead to the oak tree beside the lake. He looked inquisitively at her, frowning. "What's on your mind?"

Her face was apprehensive. "I've fallen in love with someone," she whispered quietly. He stood stunned, leaning against the trunk of the tree as he stared at the lake's glassy surface.

"Who?"

"Let me finish. I've fallen in love with a boy, an amazing boy named Cedric, and I needed to know if he loved me, too?"

Grinning in relief, he scooped her into his arms and kissed her. "Forever and ever."

-

She lies awake at night, pretending she's watching him sleep as she stares at the empty space beside her. In her dream-like fantasy, they are married. Older. They have a small cottage with a white picket fence and it is always summer, always happy, always bright. Best of all, he never leaves her.

It's well past midnight and closer to dawn than dusk, but she doesn't think of time. When time exists, it seems as though he's been gone forever, but in these moments when eternity flourishes…this is when she truly lives and stops hurting quite so much. This is the shield she's put up to block the horror of everything that's happened. Reality.

But no wall is impenetrable.

Some nights she spends shaking with an overwhelming sadness as she remembers the night she lost him. Something inside of her breaks as the tears fall like summer rain – unwanted but necessary to wash away the terrible things that have accumulated for so long – and she whispers his name to herself to make sure it still exists.


End file.
